Days of Magic
by Groudon199
Summary: [sequel to "Camp Magic-Free?"] You'd figure after the Camp Everfree shenanigans, we'd get some rest from the craziness. Unfortunately, trouble seems to follow us everywhere we go, which can stress ANYONE out. [Mild language, mild violence, spoilers for the MLPEG specials]
1. Dance Magic

**A/N: This story covers the three half-hour Equestria Girls specials that aired in June and July 2017.  
**

 **For character information, check my profile page. While you're at it, go read my other stories if you haven't. Several things won't make sense otherwise.**

 **This chapter is told through flashbacks from Olivia's POV.  
**

* * *

It's been a few weeks since the trip to Camp Everfree, and things have returned to normal. For now, anyway. It's only a matter of time until another person consumed with Equestrian magic shows up and the girls have to deal with her. I'm okay with it – it's a nice change from what I _was_ going through – but Cloudflare isn't. He told me he's gotten used to magical adventures, but I can tell he hasn't fully embraced them.

After raising enough money to _save_ Camp Everfree, we needed to raise enough to fix the damage from Gloriosa going mad with power. Following a bake sale, a day care for dogs, one of Trixie's magic shows, and a car wash, we only came up with half of what was needed, and the deadline was a week away. I went with Rarity to the mall to see if we could come up with _anything_ to close the gap. That's when we saw an advertisement for a dance video contest... and ran into some of the Crystal Prep students.

* * *

 _Rarity grabs one of the entry cards and starts filling it out._

 _"Rarity! Olivia!" We turn around. "What a nice surprise!" Four girls from Crystal Prep approach us: Sour Sweet, Sunny Flare, Sugarcoat, and Lemon Zest._

 _"What's up, Frostie?" Lemon says. We do our special handshake: A mid-five, followed by a fist bump into open hands with an explosion noise._

 _"It's not a secret handshake when you do it in public," Sugarcoat says._

 _Still saying exactly what's on her mind, I see. "That's why we call it a_ _ **special**_ _handshake."_

 _"Sour Sweet! Sunny Flare!" Rarity says. "Why, it's been_ _ **ages**_ _!"_

 _"It's only been a few months since the Friendship Games," Sugarcoat says._

 _"Is that all? Wow! How_ _ **is**_ _everything at Crystal Prep?"_

 _"Oh, things at CPA have_ _ **never**_ _been better since Principal Cadance took over," Sunny Flare says._

 _I wonder what happened to Cinch. Lemon said nobody's seen her since she was fired._

 _"Yeah," Sour Sweet says, "_ _ **she's**_ _going to let us have the spring dance on a yacht! If we raise the money..."_

 _I'm surprised they don't_ _ **already**_ _have dances like that. Then again, that's probably what Cinch would've done if they had won the Friendship Games, and with Cinch MIA, they have to make it happen the hard way.  
_

 _"Are_ _ **you two**_ _signing up for the 'Chance to Prance' contest, too?" Lemon asks._

 _"We are!" Rarity puts the card in the box._

 _"So you girls are entering as well?" I ask._

 _"We definitely aren't here because we like standing in lines." I wonder how many friends Sugarcoat has._

 _"I assume you already have a video concept figured out?" Sour Sweet asks. "The competition's going to be pretty fierce!"_

 _"Yes! It came to me as soon as I saw that gorgeous, red, ruffled ensemble on the way over here."_

 _"Oh? Tell me more." She glances back at Sugarcoat and Sunny Flare, who are smirking._

 _I really hope she doesn't tell them. "Uh, Rarity? Maybe you shouldn't –"_

 _"Well, each member of the Rainbooms is going to dance in a different style, like flamenco, hip-hop, or street ballet, and we'll wear costumes to match each genre, designed by yours truly, of course." She giggles._

 _I sigh. "Oh, Rarity..."_

 _"That sounds like a very good concept." I'm surprised Sugarcoat didn't outright say they're going to use it._

 _"Yeah, I_ _ **guess**_ _it's okay," Sour Sweet says, "if you're going for way too over-the-top."_

 _"Thanks!" Rarity says. "So, what's_ _ **your**_ _concept?"_

 _"Nothing. We don't have one yet." I saw a movie like this once. People saying exactly what's on their minds because they don't know how to lie._

 _"Uh, what she_ _ **means**_ _," Sour Sweet says, "is it's a surprise! But, it's_ _ **amazing!**_ _It's_ _ **so**_ _original!"_

 _"Oh, well I can't wait to see it," Rarity says. "Good luck!" She waves to them as she walks away._

 _"You too!"_

 _"I'll catch up in a minute," I tell Rarity. I look at the Shadowbolts. "You're gonna steal her concept, aren't you?"_

 _"We're not_ _ **stealing**_ _it," Sunny Flare says. "We're gonna use_ _ **her**_ _idea to make_ _ **ours**_ _even better!"_

 _I cross my arms. "Uh-huh." I focus my gaze on Sugarcoat._

 _"Yes, we're gonna steal it."_

 _"Thought so. Don't worry, I'm not gonna tell her. I'll just sit back, and whatever happens, happens." I look at Lemon. "You're not on board with this, are you?"_

 _"I don't agree with it, but we gotta do what we can to get that yacht."_

 _I sigh. When Lemon's in any type of competition, she acts just like a typical Crystal Prep student, and I really hate that._

 _"We promised the dance would be held there instead of in the auditorium," she continues.  
_

 _"And if you don't win, the other students will be mad at you..." Even with Cinch gone, things are still the same. I'm so glad I went back to CHS. "Well, good luck. I guess we'll see who can pull off the concept the best."_

 _"Oh, don't worry," Sour Sweet says. "It'll be_ _ **us**_ _!"_

* * *

In an all-or-nothing move, Rarity used the money we had raised so far to purchase the materials for the outfits. If this worked out, we'd get double the amount needed to fix the camp. If it didn't, we'd be back to square one with no chance of meeting the deadline.

Cloudflare and I told Rarity we didn't want to be in the video, as neither of us can dance. He figuratively has two left feet, and I literally have **only** a left foot. We still helped out, though. Cloudflare manned the camera and edited the video, while I took care of the audio. The initial rehearsal was... a bit of a train wreck, but that's why it's a rehearsal. Rarity was a bit frustrated everybody was taking so long to master the choreography.

After she told us the Crystal Prep students stole her video idea, she wanted to confront them at Crystal Prep. Twilight and I volunteered to take her there.

* * *

 _We sneak through the front doors of Crystal Prep and through the halls. I'm still not sure why Rarity is trying to disguise herself with a hood and big glasses while Twilight and I aren't. Maybe Rarity thinks they won't recognize us if we're wearing regular clothes instead of Crystal Prep uniforms._

 _"Okay," Rarity whispers. "Where's the dance studio?"_

 _"There's a dance studio?" Twilight asks._

 _"Didn't you go to this school?"_

 _"I can show you where the library is." That's probably the **only** place she remembers here._

 _Oh, hey. "It's right there," I say, pointing to the open door at the end of the hall._

 _"How did you know that's it?" Twilight asks. "You said you can't dance."_

 _"Sonata told me she and the other Dazzlings rehearse in there occasionally."_

 _"The... Dazzlings?" Rarity asks._

 _"This world's Dazzlings, not the sirens."_

 _Music starts playing from that room. We walk into the room, and the girls finish their routine._

 _"Hey, girls!" Sour Sweet says to us. "So what did you think of our routine? Scared yet?"_

 _"Don't change the subject, Sour Sweet!" Rarity exclaims.  
_

 _"But you didn't bring up a subject." Surely Sugarcoat knows why we're here. The subject was implied._

 _"You either!" Try calming down a bit, Rarity._

 _"Oooookay..."_

 _"You know why we're here._ _ **You**_ _stole my -_ _ **our**_ _\- music video idea! Now... change your concept or... else."_

 _"Sorry, but we can't," Sour Sweet says, and all four of them laugh._

 _"And why is that?" Twilight asks._

 _"Because we care about winning," Sunny Flare says. "Duh!"_

 _"And we will," Sour Sweet says, "because we're just about to submit our video!" They laugh again._

 _"By the way, Frost," Sunny Flare says, "it's not nice to break your promises."_

 _"I didn't break my promise. I kept quiet, just like I said I would. Rarity found out on her own."_

 _"You **knew** about this?" Twilight asks me._

 _"I knew as soon as Rarity told them her concept. I tried to warn her beforehand."_

 _"It doesn't matter," Rarity says. "We're still doing_ _ **our**_ _video the way we planned!"_

 _"Go ahead," Sour Sweet says, "but there's just one flaw in your little plan."_

 _"By the time you submit yours," Sunny Flare says, "it'll just look like_ _ **you**_ _copied_ _ **us**_ _!"_

 _"Except a worse version," Sugarcoat says._

* * *

The next day, Rarity overheard the Shadowbolts talking about how they _didn't_ submit their video yet because they didn't have their own song, and their reasons for using Rarity's concept were exactly what Lemon told me. After hearing this, Rarity decided to put the Shadowbolts and Rainbooms in the same video, and if we won, we would split the prize money.

Which we did. Camp Everfree is gonna look good as new, Crystal Prep is having a dance on a yacht, all of us are friends now, and a few Crystal Prep students finally learned that winning isn't everything. It all worked out in the end. Although I don't consider Sunny Flare a friend yet. I'm still a bit mad at her for the stunt she pulled during that sleepover.

* * *

 **A/N: The other 2 won't be this short. I wanted to do something for "Dance Magic", but there wasn't much to work with.**


	2. Movie Magic

**A/N: This chapter is told through Olivia's POV.**

* * *

"For I... am Stalwart Stallio–"

"Whoa whoa whoa!"

Damn it, Rainbow...

"Ah, cut!"

"Sorry," Rainbow says, "but at this point in the story, Stalwart Stallion would be known as 'Mojo'."

Have you _ever_ seen a movie based on a book? Changes like this happen all the time! Well, maybe not _exactly_ like this...

"What? You think he wants Daring Do fans to call him out for making a mistake like that?"

Still, I assume A.K. Yearling had to approve the script. Surely it's fine, right?

"Let's go again," the director says to the actor, "and this time, say 'Mojo' instead of 'Stalwart Stallion', 'kay? And, action!"

* * *

We're on the set for a Daring Do movie that's being filmed. I'm not as big a fan as Rainbow or Twilight, but I've read the first couple books, so I figured I'd tag along. Cloudflare decided not to come because he doesn't like these types of stories. He tried reading the first book, but couldn't finish it. I told him not all of us like it, but we're coming with anyway. He said he'll just be bored out of his mind.

Rarity said that since he's staying back, maybe he could watch Sweetie Belle and Button Mash. He wasn't sure why they need a babysitter at their age, and I thought the same. I guess Rarity doesn't trust them being alone together. She offered to pay him $40 to keep an eye on them, and he agreed. I guess being bored while making money is better than being bored for free.

He and Sunset aren't dating anymore. They broke up yesterday. I asked them why, but neither would give me an answer. All they said was it won't affect their friendship, and he assured me she wasn't using him like she used Flash.

"I can't believe we're really here!" Rainbow says.

"Thank you so much for letting us come, Mr. Zoom," Twilight says.

"We promise, we _won't_ get in the way," Sunset says. " _Again..._ "

Rainbow nervously laughs.

"As a fellow Camp Everfree alum," he says, "I was more than happy to afford the girls who helped save it the chance to visit the set of our little film."

"Uh... _Little?_ This is Daring Do we're talking about! This movie is gonna be huge!"

"Well, probably not _huge_ ," I say, "but it _will_ be a hit."

"Of _course_ it's gonna be huge!"

"Not as huge as you're expecting. I mean, I _love_ Cheese Sandwich – biggest fan in Canterlot – but I never expect his next single to top the charts for 6 straight weeks."

"That's because Cheese Sandwich just rips off other people's songs. A.K. Yearling is actually _original!_ "

She did _not_ just say that! I grab her by the jacket. "You wanna _repeat that?!_ " I angrily say.

"Break it up, you two," Applejack says as she gets between us. "Y'all can fight later."

I sigh. "This isn't over, Rainbow Crash!"

"Don't... call me... _Crash!_ "

I smirk. Looks like I found a way to get on her nerves when she gets on mine.

"Uh, there's a problem in wardrobe," a stagehand says. "They can't find the costume Daring Do was supposed to wear in the night club scene."

"If you'll excuse me," Canter Zoom says. They walk to the wardrobe room.

"According to our visitor's schedule," Twilight says, "they won't start shooting the next scene for a while, which means we have time to –"

"Get my picture taken with Chestnut Magnifico!" Rarity interrupts. "The actress playing Daring Do!"

"And ask her to sign my petition to bring more bird feeders to Canterlot High!" Fluttershy says.

That... came out of nowhere.

"Chestnut Magnifico is an avid supporter of the foundation that helps build homes for animals in need." Celebrities always have _some_ cause they support. I wonder how many do that just to improve their public image.

"Oh, okay," Twilight says, "but I was thinking that we could –"

"Check out all the sets?" Sunset interrupts.

"I'd sure like to get a closer look at that volcano," Applejack says.

"Actually, I thought we'd –"

"Find the buffet!" Spike interrupts.

"And the cupcake fountain!" Pinkie says.

Huh? "There's a cupcake fountain?" I ask.

"I... don't know what a cupcake fountain is," Rainbow says, "but I'm pretty sure they don't have one."

"Of course they do!" Pinkie says. She pulls out a pamphlet. "I read it in my '100 Things You Didn't Know About This Movie Studio' insider tour guide!" I see...

"Is the number one thing you didn't know that the guy who founded this studio was an eccentric oddball with a sweet tooth?" Applejack asks sarcastically.

Pinkie reads over the guide. "Oh! Yes!"

Maybe that _wasn't_ sarcasm... or it was an extremely lucky sarcastic guess.

"I guess we're splitting up?" Twilight says.

Everyone agrees.

I'll follow Pinkie. I really want to see this cupcake fountain.

"So what else does that guide say?" I ask.

* * *

After a long search, we're sitting near one of the buffet tables.

Pinkie sighs. "Three lunch buffets, six different kinds of fondue, two rooms with nothing but candy, and _still no cupcake fountain!_ Oh well. At least we found those peanut butter praline crunch bars. They weren't in my guidebook, but they sure were delicious!" She looks at me. " _Hella_ delicious, as you would say!"

"Hey, just because I say 'hella' sometimes doesn't mean I use it to describe _everything!_ " She's not wrong in this case _,_ but I won't give her the satisfaction of being right.

"Are you kidding?" Spike says. "You say it, like, all the time!"

"A couple times a week, sure, but that's not _all_ the time!" Maybe I should stop saying it altogether...

"One more month! Chestnut, that's all we need! I'm doing all we can to keep us on schedule, but with all the setbacks we've had, I don't think we can do it!" Looks like Canter Zoom and Chestnut are having a disagreement. I wonder if this is what it's like on most film sets. I've heard some actors and actresses can be difficult to work with. "If you could just agree to stay on for one more month..."

"Unacceptable!"

"But –"

" _Where_ are my imported peanut butter praline crunch bars?!"

Whoops... "Maybe we should resume the hunt for that cupcake fountain," I whisper to Pinkie. She nods. We quickly leave the area.

* * *

We're back at the set, waiting for filming to resume.

"You guys should've seen the relics," Rainbow whispers. "They were amazing!" she says quite a bit louder.

"Gah... Quiet on set, please!"

Once again, Crash's mouth gets her into trouble.

"Sorry," she quietly says. "Maybe I'll just go take _one more_ peek at them." She rushes out of the room.

"And... action!"

Just as the scene begins, the top part of the volcano prop begins cracking. The actor runs out of the way.

"Cut! Cut! Cut!"

It breaks off and lands where he was standing.

"What is going on around here? We just filmed on this volcano and it was fine! This could set us back weeks..."

"They're gone!" Rainbow runs back into the room in a panic. "They're all gone!"

"What's gone?"

"The relics!" Juniper Montage, one of the stagehands, says.

You're kidding...

* * *

Sure enough, the spot where the relic props are stored is empty.

"I wanted to check them out again up close," Rainbow says, "and they weren't there!"

"This... can't be happening!" Canter Zoom says. "What are we gonna do?!"

"Couldn't you just get the prop department to make new ones?" Sunset asks.

"The missing relics were personally approved by A.K. Yearling! We _could_ have new ones made, but we can't use them until Ms. Yearling has given them her official stamp of approval!"

First a costume goes missing, then the volcano set breaks, and now the relics have disappeared. Someone's trying to sabotage this movie. There's no way all of that can be coincidental. Man, it's too bad Cloudflare isn't here. He'd probably enjoy a mystery that doesn't involve magic for once.

"Are you sure there's nothing you can do to –" A crash interrupts Twilight. Wonder what _else_ is gonna interrupt her today.

"I'm... so sorry... Please excuse me." Canter Zoom and Juniper go to investigate.

"Hm... There was trouble with the costumes when we first arrived, a set that was fine yesterday just collapsed, and now the most important props in the movie have been stolen..."

I see I'm not the only one to notice. "They definitely _aren't_ coincidences," I say.

"All the things that have gone wrong on set have put production on hold," Sunset says. "It seems to me like someone is going to a lot of trouble to make sure this movie doesn't get made."

"But who would want to –" I start to say.

Fluttershy gasps. "Oh dear... You don't think..."

"Oh no no no no no," Rarity says. "Certainly not!"

Uh... huh... "Care to share that thought with the rest of the class?" I ask.

They look at each other. "When Rarity and I followed Chestnut Magnifico to her trailer, we overheard her saying something about shutting down the movie!"

"Yes, but she said she wanted _something_ shut down. We don't _know_ that she was talking about the movie."

"Maybe she's just really mad 'cause they're always running out of her imported peanut butter praline crunch bars," Pinkie says.

Sunset reaches into her jacket pocket and pulls out a candy wrapper. " _Bondmot_ peanut butter praline crunch bars?"

"Those are the ones!"

"We... may have tried a few ourselves," Spike says with a nervous laugh.

"After we ate one, well..." I say. "We just couldn't stop. They were _really_ good."

"We found _this_ on the Mount Vehoovius set right before it collapsed," Sunset says.

"It seems like all the signs are pointing to Chestnut Magnifico as the one causing all the problems around here," Twilight says.

"I don't know _who's_ behind this or _what's_ going on," Rainbow says, "but the first thing we need to do is find those relics!"

"I agree. The relics were here earlier, and if Chestnut _is_ behind this, they must still be around here somewhere."

"Chestnut Magnifico is an acclaimed actress!" Rarity says. "She'd _never_ do something so dramatic!"

"An actress? Dramatic?" Sunset sarcastically says.

"The very idea!" I respond with equal sarcasm.

"Well," Applejack says, "she _might_ do somethin' like this if she was trying to get out of workin' on a movie she didn't want to do."

"Why don't Fluttershy, Pinkie, Spike, and I follow Chestnut Magnifico and see if we can find anything out?" Sunset says.

"Let's do it!" Pinkie yells. Sunset leads them off the set.

"In the meantime," Twilight says, "we should look for the relics."

"Where do we even start?" Applejack asks. "It's not like there's some mysterious thievin' cloaked figure we can chase after and say, 'Hey, tell us where you're keepin' the relics!'"

I spot someone in the corner of the room. Just as she described, the person is wearing a dark cloak. "What about _that_ one?" I point to them. Two for two, Applejack! You're on fire today!

"Hey! Stop right there!" When has that _ever_ worked, Rainbow?

The mysterious figure runs away. Rainbow grabs her geode, activating her super speed, and gives chase. All of us run after them at our normal running speed.

When we finally catch up, the culprit is nowhere to be found.

"I can't believe I lost them!" Rainbow says. "My geode gives me super speed, but I guess being awesomely fast doesn't help when the person you're chasing knows their way around better than you do."

I probably shouldn't have run that far. "Will you girls excuse me for a minute? I need to check on my prosthesis."

"I thought that wasn't a concern anymore," Twilight says.

"It's not really the prosthesis itself. I'm more worried about my stump. I've never run that long without stopping before, and I just want to be sure it's okay." I walk to the other side of the backdrop we stopped next to.

I sit in one of the chairs, then push my right sock down. I remove the prosthesis. I still have no idea how magic-crazed Gloriosa managed to take this off with those brambles. It can't be removed without holding the release button and pulling. I had to show her how it works when we arrived at camp, but I doubt she had enough control over the brambles to find a small button that was covered up by a sock.

I take off my stump socks. Good, no redness. I put everything back into place, then walk back to the others. Pinkie, Fluttershy, Spike, and Sunset have caught up with us.

"We spotted this super suspicious cloak figure," Rainbow says, "but they got away! They're here somewhere..."

"There you are!" Someone else walks up to us. "Where are your costumes? We gotta hurry. I'm gonna be so fired if you aren't ready. The director wants to shoot in three minutes!" Uh...

* * *

What... _are_ these, exactly? They kinda look like superhero outfits. I'm guessing Sunset is supposed to be the villain... Hair Raiser, or something like that... Casting her as the villain makes sense, but why am _I_ dressed like that as well? The Rainbooms are in front of the camera while I'm standing next to the stagehand that found us.

"I think there's been some kinda mistake," Applejack says.

"Wait, wait..." The director looks at the others through his... uniocular, I guess it's called? A mini telescope? Then he looks at me. "Who are these girls?" he asks the stagehand.

"They're the Power Ponies!" the stagehand says. "And this is Mane-iac's stunt double!"

Is he serious? "Stunt double? Two problems with that: One, I have a prosthetic leg. How can I be a stunt double with a handicap like that?" I know there are handicapped stunt doubles, but that's not the point. "Two, look at me! I'm grey, and she's orange! Why would you think I'm _her_ double?!"

"Uh... W-well..." he nervously stammers. "I'm fired, aren't I?"

" _So_ fired," the director says.

I mean, they _do_ fit the costumes rather well. Almost as if they're who the costumes were made for. Except Sunset. She looks ridiculous with that hair. I guess _I_ look ridiculous as well. Too bad I don't have my phone. Talk about a silly selfie!

"Hey! There she is!" Applejack points to an area between two of the buildings. And the chase continues...

* * *

After chasing this person through set after set, we're all exhausted.

"I can't keep doing this..." I say, out of breath.

"Uh... What's _this_ place supposed to be?" Applejack asks.

I look at the set. There are a bunch of buildings with... chocolate pudding on them? Or something that looks like pudding.

Wait, is this...?

"And where did she go?" Rainbow says.

"She must be around here somewhere," Twilight says, "wherever _here_ is."

Pinkie gasps. "Are you kidding?! This is the set of 'Stormy with a Side of Pudding'!"

It _is!_

"Stormy with a side of what now?" Applejack asks.

Exasperated, Pinkie says, "It's only my all-time favorite movie!" Yeah, that makes sense. "I've tried to get you all to watch it, like, a kazillion billion times!" I watched it, and I thought it was alright. I'm just surprised the set is still up. Maybe they're filming a sequel. "I've heard they use _real_ pudding!"

 _Real_ pudding? That sounds like a waste.

She runs over to one of the buildings, puts some of the 'pudding' on her finger, and tastes it. "They do!"

"Really?" I walk over and try a little for myself. "Wow... They _really_ go the extra mile for authenticity. Well, as authentic as pudding rain _can_ be." Pudding rain... Isn't there a song about that?

"We're running out of time!" Rainbow says. "We're supposed to be hunting down the missing relics and catching the bad guy, not eating pudding!"

"We're trying," Twilight says. "Maybe we should make our way back to the Daring Do set. There might've been some clues we missed."

"Can we walk?" I ask. "I'm not in the mood to – yaah!"

A net falls onto us. Awesome! What _else_ can go wrong?!

"Don't worry!" Rainbow says. She avoided the net. She activates her super speed. "I've got this!" She runs out of the room, knocking over a bucket of pudding and leaving a trail of bootprints.

I sigh. "I hope Cloudflare's having more fun than _we_ are."

* * *

As effective as nets are at trapping animals, they don't do a good job of trapping people. It was super easy for us to just lift one end and get it off. Maybe it's meant more as an escape plan for the assailant.

"We have to find Rainbow," Applejack says.

"I don't see how," Rarity says. "She moves so fast, she could be anywhere on the lot by now. Why she felt it necessary to wear the geode that gives her super speed to a movie set, I'll never know."

"Maybe after all the crazy stuff that's happened over the school year," I say, "she wanted to be prepared just in case."

"I wish _I'd_ brought _mine_ ," Sunset says. "One touch and I'd be able to see Chestnut's memories and get to the bottom of this whole thing."

"If Cloudflare was here," I say, "he could gather everyone together and use his siren power to get the culprit to confess." Assuming he feels confident that it would work. I've done everything he told me to do without hesitating, but he thinks that's only because I know he's manipulating me. He's really nervous about trying it in public, but we could've convinced him. Despite that, he carries his geode everywhere he goes. "But if we want to find Rainbow, why not follow the bootprints she left?" I point to the pudding tracks on the ground leading away from the bucket.

Spike sniffs the pudding prints. "Follow me!" Spike runs out of the room.

"You're a genius, Olivia!" Twilight says.

I'm a genius because I was observant? "Uh... Thanks?"

"Come on!" Sunset says. "This way!" The other girls, sans Pinkie, follow her.

Pinkie picks up the bucket and... stuffs it into her hair?

"Um..."

"Eh, for the road!"

That's not what I was gonna ask. She starts running.

"Pinkie, wait!" She stops. "Can we walk instead?"

"Sure!"

I catch up, then we walk out of the room together.

"So, get this! While we were looking for Chestnut, we found the cupcake fountain!"

No way! "You did?"

"Mm-hmm!"

"Wow... It's always when you're looking for something else... After we figure out who's sabotaging the film, you _gotta_ show it to me!"

* * *

We follow the prints to the end of their trail. The other girls are looking around the room trying to find her. The prints stop in front of a door, so maybe she's behind them. Although everybody is still looking, so maybe they already checked.

"Rainbow Dash!" Applejack calls out. "Where are ya?!"

The door starts rattling. "Help! Somebody!" That's Rainbow's voice! "I'm trapped in here!"

Wait, they _didn't_ check?

"Hello? Rainbow Dash?" Fluttershy says with her ear to the door. "Are you in there?"

I understand wanting to be sure, but the rattling and where her voice is coming from should've been confirmation enough.

"Yes! Help! I'm locked in!"

"It's okay, Dashie. We're here." Fluttershy tries pulling the doors open, but they won't budge.

"I'll go find somebody with a key," Sunset says.

"Wait." Twilight stops her, then grabs her own geode. She walks to the door, then holds her other hand over the lock.

Rainbow barges out of the room. "Boy, am I happy to see you!" She lunges at and hugs Twilight, sending them both to the floor.

"Did you just make that lock unlock itself?" Rarity asks Twilight. Prepared for anything.

"Thinkin' maybe we _should_ all start wearin' our geodes around," Applejack says. "Like Olivia said, never know when our new magic might come in handy."

I don't understand why they weren't doing that in the first place. Even _Cloudflare_ wears his all the time despite never using it.

"How did you find me?" Rainbow asks. "I gave up banging on the door five minutes ago."

"Pudding... never lies!" Pinkie says. She gulps down some of the pudding from her pudding bucket.

I walk over to her. "May I?" I ask.

She hands me the bucket. After making sure there aren't any pink hairs, I pour some of the pudding into my mouth.

...

OMG, this is amazing! Best chocolate pudding I've _ever_ had! I swallow it, then go back for seconds. "Mmm... So tasty..." I _need_ the recipe for this stuff!

"Hey," Sunset says, "isn't that the costume that went missing when we first got here?"

Rainbow is holding an outfit of some kind. From what I've seen of the movie so far, it _does_ look like something one of the actresses would wear.

"Yeah," Rainbow says, "but I didn't see the person who locked me in, and there's still no sign of the relics."

"I say we head back to the scene of the crime," Applejack says. "Maybe there's somethin' there that could lead us to the relics."

"Or," Twilight says, "we could let the culprit lead us to them."

"How would we do that?" I ask. "We still don't know who it is."

"And I didn't see who locked me in there," Rainbow says.

"I've got a pretty good idea who our thief is, but we're gonna need Canter Zoom's help to catch her."

Rainbow looks at Pinkie and I. Pinkie eats more of the pudding. At this rate, she'll finish all of it before we catch the relic thief.

* * *

We're back on one of the Daring Do sets in our regular clothing.

"You found this in a supply closet?" Canter Zoom asks, holding the dress we found.

"We didn't find the relics," Twilight says, "but we don't think the thief has had the chance to take them off the lot yet. We wanted your permission to search the Tricorners Village set from top to bottom. Maybe we'll find a clue that would lead us to where they're hidden."

I see Pinkie has already gotten a head start on the search. Or rather, making the culprit _think_ we've started searching.

"Of course." He gives the dress to Juniper. "Chestnut, I need you to get into hair and makeup. As soon as we get the relics, we're gonna start shooting again!"

"Hmph. We'll see..." Chestnut walks away.

"Juniper? Can you do a smoothie run?" Canter Zoom asks. "I'm sure all this sleuthing is gonna make everyone thirsty."

"Absolutely!"

* * *

"When Juniper left, we followed her. Just as Twilight suspected, she was the person trying to sabotage the film. She was mad that her uncle had cast Chestnut as Daring Do, so she tried to delay production to get Chestnut to quit so she could have the lead role. Canter Zoom wasn't pleased, and he fired her and had her escorted off the set." The look on her face when she left... I don't think we've seen the last of her. "Chestnut was able to stay on as the lead actress, and as a reward for saving the film, Canter Zoom cast all of us as extras in the village scene. I was hiding behind a small crate in the Mojo vs. Daring part as a terrified villager, carefully peeking around the corner. We had to run the scene 4 times; one was ruined because of Rainbow's fangirl outburst, and the others were to get a few clean takes."

"Wow... Sounds like I missed out on a lot of fun," Cloudflare says. "All I did was play Minecraft for 8 hours with Sweetie and Button. I mean, it _was_ fun, but _your_ adventure sounded a lot more exciting than exploring caves, building a house, and defending a village from a Zombie hoard. Maybe I _should_ have come with."

"Well, aside from my stump almost bottoming out from all the running, it was pretty enjoyable." Although protecting a village from zombies would be pretty thrilling if it happened in real life. "So, serious question. If you _did_ come with us, would you have used your power to see if you could get Juniper to confess?"

"Uh..." He looks uncomfortable, as he usually does when I bring up the idea of using it on others. He sighs. "I don't know. Even though it would've saved the film a lot quicker, I still wouldn't feel right about manipulating people."

"I thought so. What if all of us persuaded you to try?"

"Uh... Maybe. Never underestimate the power of peer pressure. It's how I became friends with the Rainbooms, after all."

He spent all that time practicing on me. I hope it _does_ pay off one day.

"Are you worried about Juniper?" he asks.

"A little. She probably wants revenge for costing her the Daring Do role, but I don't think there's much she can do to _all_ of us. Well, _I'm_ the most vulnerable because I don't have magic powers to defend myself."

"Don't worry. We won't let anything happen to you."

I smile. "I know."

"So, how was the cupcake fountain?"

"No comment."

"What? What do you mean 'no comment'?"

"I can't say anything more about it."

He rolls his eyes. "Oh, _now_ you honor the non-disclosure agreement?"

"Hey, I've done _nothing_ to break the NDA. The Power Ponies movie was teased last October and I said 'Stormy' _might_ be getting a sequel. The only mention of a cupcake fountain is in a rumor pamphlet."

"But you _did_ see it, right?"

He can see right through me. "I'm not saying I did and I'm not saying I didn't." I wink. I'm supposed to keep my mouth shut because the fountain's being used in 'The Land of Sweets', which hasn't been announced yet, but I know he'll keep this to himself.

"Okay, then. If it _did_ exist, what do you think it would look like?"

I chuckle. "Well..."


	3. Mirror Magic

**A/N: This chapter is told through both Cloudflare's and Olivia's POVs.**

* * *

 *****Cloudflare's POV*****

All of us are getting lunch at the mall.

Olivia's phone buzzes and plays a sound. She takes it out of her pocket, then chuckles. "A Magikarp _here_ , of all places? Maybe it's the fountain."

She's _still_ playing Pokémon Go... I played that when it came out last summer, and I couldn't get into it. I didn't like the old games very much, and not being a Pokémon fan, the appeal of the mobile game isn't there. Although Olivia's never been big on video games in general, she played the crap out of the first few Pokémon games in elementary school. Her eyes practically lit up when Button Mash mentioned Go, and she's been hooked on it ever since. I learned more about Pokémon that day than I ever wanted to know.

"Well, I caught it," she says. "50 more and I'll be able to stand a chance against the gyms. Or I could make it my buddy Pokémon."

"Yeah, you'd be the _coolest_ kid on the playground with a Magikarp on your shoulder," I sarcastically say.

She puts her phone away and gets her food. "Hey, give it a couple weeks, and I'll be the _envy_ of the entire playground!"

Right, because if there's _any_ Pokémon that'll impress the kids, it's the most worthless one ever.

We walk back to the table area Sunset is sitting at.

"Oh, no! Shoot...!"

"What's the matter, Sunset?" Pinkie asks as she sits down.

"Oh... I just... ran out of pages in my journal. That's all."

"Chillax, Sunshim," Rainbow says.

"Uh... 'Sunshim'?" I ask. Olivia and I sit at Rainbow's and Twilight's table.

"That's Sunset Shimmer's new movie star name." She takes a sip of her drink. "I just made it up!"

"We were cast as extras," Olivia says. "That doesn't make us movie stars."

"Yet, darling!" Rarity says. "Yet."

"There's more bothering you than just journal pages," Twilight says, "isn't there, Sunset?"

"Uh..."

"Come on!" Pinkie says. "Share your troubles!" She grabs Sunset's cheeks. "It might help soothe your stressed nerves."

"Ah, I don't want to take any of the fun out of our big night."

" _ **I said spill it, Sunshim!"**_ Wow! Note to self, never get on Pinkie's bad side. She makes Olivia's bad side look tame in comparison.

"Okay, okay! It's just that things have been calm around here, magic-wise."

I see...

"And... that's a problem... how?" Olivia asks.

"It's not," she says. "It's just that instead enjoying the fact that things are calm, I'm constantly thinking about things going wrong even when they aren't!"

"I know what you mean," I say. "As much as I'm enjoying things being relatively uneventful, I know it won't be long until we have to take on another magic-infused entity. I can't fully relax."

"So, _why_ did you two break up, exactly?" Olivia asks me. "You both think so alike."

I don't respond, and neither does Sunset. Maybe I'll tell Olivia later.

I sigh. That's not the _only_ thing I want to tell her.

Sunset's book starts glowing purple. Pinkie grabs it. "Look! Twilight's writing you back! Hey, everybody! Sunset's getting an Equestritext!" Well, it _is_ like having a texting-only phone.

Sunset takes it back and starts reading.

"What's it say?" AJ asks.

"Princess Twilight wants me to come to... Equestria!"

I guess Twilight realized the journal is full. Why would she want Sunset to meet her in Equestria instead of coming here herself, though?

* * *

 *****Olivia's POV*****

"I guess we should wait in the lobby for him," I say. Cloudflare texted me to say he'll be a little late.

We walk into the movie theater and up to the concession stand.

Wait... The person at the counter looks –

" _Juniper Montage?!"_

Geez, Pinkie! Do you _have_ to be so _loud_ when you're surprised?!

"What in the blazes are _you_ doin' here?" Applejack says to Juniper, who's working at the concession stand, playing with popcorn, and admiring her reflection in a hand mirror.

"Were _you_ invited to the Daring Do premiere?" Pinkie asks. "Ooh! That's exciting! No, crazy. No, concerning! No, _just no!_ No offense."

"Well..." I say. "It's _definitely_ concerning."

"I wasn't invited to the premiere," Juniper says. "My uncle Canter Zoom felt bad for firing me, so he pulled some strings and got me _this_ job..."

"You work here?" Fluttershy asks.

"As little as possible." She brushes the counter popcorn onto the floor, then kicks some of it behind her.

"I... can see that," I say.

"Y'know," Rainbow says, "if you hadn't tried to sabotage the movie, you _could_ be celebrating with us."

She angrily growls, then walks out from behind the counter. "It should be _my night!_ I would've found a way to be in the film if _you all_ had stayed out of it!"

Okay, I _really_ don't want to be here right now...

"I would've been Daring Do! _Everyone_ would've _loved_ me! _See?!_ " She holds her mirror up to us.

It's... just our reflection.

"Can't you see what's right under your noses?"

There are those alarm bells again.

"I wish you'd all just go away and leave me alone!" Run!

A bright light shines from the mirror, forcing me to shield my eyes. Then I feel myself being lifted into the air and pulled forward by something.

I knew it! I freaking knew it!

* * *

 *****Cloudflare's POV*****

I walk into the movie theater. The lobby is empty, save for the girl working the concession stand. I thought we were meeting up in here.

I walk up to the counter. The girl is looking at her reflection in her hand mirror. "Excuse me." I get her attention. "Did seven girls walk in here earlier? One of them has rainbow hair, another wears glasses, another dresses in all dark clothing. Quite a unique bunch, you can't miss 'em."

"Uh... No, no one like that has been here," she says.

Um... "Really? They didn't go into one of the theater rooms?"

"N-nope!"

Huh... "That's odd... I'm ten minutes late, but I didn't think _all_ of us were late."

"If you want to wait for your group, you can wait outside."

"Why not here?"

"We have a rule against loitering in the lobby."

What? I look behind me. "Then why are there two pinball tables, an arcade cabinet, and a crane game in the corner?"

"I'm sorry, sir, but you'll have to leave. You're causing a scene."

"All I did was ask if you've seen my friends."

" _Get lost!_ " she yells.

"Okay, fine!" Sheesh, what's _her_ problem? I turn around.

Something about that girl is... off. Why was she trying so hard to get rid of me? I look back. She's looking at her reflection again. The only thing odd about her is the butterfly beret on her uniform. It looks out-of-place. Last time I saw an odd fashion accessory, our class was almost held prisoner at Camp Everfree.

Wait, I think I've seen that beret before. It kinda looks like...

I shake my head. I'm probably just paranoid. I leave the theater, then call Olivia to ask where they're at.

 _"Hey, it's Olivia Frost. I can't pick up right now, but –"_

Straight to voicemail? That's odd... Maybe she forgot to shut off Pokémon Go. I hang up, then call Pinkie.

 _"Hiya! You've reached Pinkie Pie!"_

Pinkie, too?

I call Applejack, Rarity, Rainbow, Twilight, and Fluttershy. All of them go to voicemail. One or two are coincidental, but all seven? Something's going on...

Maybe Sunset's back from Equestria. I try calling her.

Okay, it's ringing. That's a good sign. Or maybe she left it at her apartment. It _would_ be pretty useless in a world of hooves. But then, why would she leave it on?

She answers. "Cloudflare!"

"Hey, Sunset."

"Oh, thank goodness you called! Are the others with you?"

"No, they're not. I got to the movie theater a little late, and they weren't in the lobby. The person working here said she hasn't seen them, so I tried calling them. All their phones went straight to voicemail."

"Maybe they're already in the theater room, and the clerk didn't remember them."

"We're a vibrant group. If somebody saw us, they'd remember."

"Then perhaps it's a different clerk."

"I guess... It's just there's something about her that doesn't seem right."

"What do you mean?"

* * *

 *****Olivia's POV*****

All of us are in some strange, white room.

"Uh... Any clue yet where we are or what just happened?" Rarity asks.

"I... would like to know, too," I say.

"Pinkie Pie's on the case!" She holds her hands in front of her and acts like she's rotating something. "Nope! No wall over here! Come out, come out, walls! Wherever you are!" She runs to the right.

I've seen Pinkie do some odd things, but _that?_ I walk over to where she did that motion.

"I don't get this place!"

I look closely at the spot she was manipulating, then try rotating whatever's supposedly there. "Yeah, there's nothing here," I mutter to myself. "What is with that girl, anyway?"

"There's no walls in this place _anywhere!_ "

I walk back to the group, and I hear the sound of something magic. A hole opens above us.

"Somehow, someway," Applejack says, "that dang Juniper sucked us all inside of that mirror of hers."

"Or into some kind of limbo behind it," Twilight says.

This is... I knew Juniper would want her revenge, but I didn't think she'd go _this_ far!

"I think I might be freaking out a little bit," Fluttershy says, clutching herself. You and me both.

"You call _that_ a freakout?" Rainbow says.

"It's sort of a 'deep down inside' freakout..." Wow... That's actually more unsettling than what's _causing_ the freakout.

"On the upside," Pinkie says, "there's popcorn in here!" She throws some popcorn in the air and catches a few pieces in her mouth. "Mmm... Sticky..."

"Well, that explains the popcorn on the floor behind the counter," I say. "Also, eww."

"How could this happen on the evening of my very first movie premiere?" Rarity says. "Of all the nights... Curse you, cruel fate!"

" _Not_ our number one problem right now, Rarity," Rainbow says.

"I need to sit down." This is too overwhelming. Cloudflare told me he and these girls would keep me safe. I know this wasn't their fault, but I feel betrayed.

A bunch of small objects fall through the portal and start hitting us. "Oh, what now?!"

"Chocolate-covered almonds?" Rainbow caught one of them.

Twilight uses her magic to stop them from falling.

Well, great. At least we won't starve. If Juniper starts cleaning up soda spills, maybe we'll be able to hold off dehydration for a _couple_ days.

I sigh. Why did this happen...?

* * *

 *****Cloudflare's POV*****

"Hey, Cloudflare!"

I look to my left. "Sunset!" She walks up to me. A light purple girl is standing next to her with what looks like ice cream around her lips. "Uh, you got a little something..." I say to her, circling my mouth with my finger.

"I got it," Sunset says. She takes a napkin out of one of her jacket pockets and cleans the ice cream off the girl's face.

O...kay...

"Thanks," the girl says.

"So who's your new friend?" I ask the girls.

"I'm Starlight Glimmer," the new girl says.

Huh... "Starlight Glimmer? Twilight's student in Equestria? _That_ Starlight Glimmer?"

"Uh-huh," Sunset says.

"And... Twilight's okay with you being here?"

"I don't know for sure that she's _not_ okay with it," Starlight says.

In other words, she has no idea, but she came over anyway. "Nice to meet you," I say. "I'm Cloudflare."

"So you got here late," Sunset says to me, "but none of our friends were here, and the person working the counter didn't want you waiting in the lobby?"

We walk into the theater. "Yeah, and the way she reacted when I described a few of them was a little odd."

Sunset sees who's at the counter and gasps. She grabs my wrist and Starlight's and drags us behind the crane game.

"It's Juniper Montage!"

"Wait, _that's_ Juniper Montage?" I exclaim.

"No!" Starlight says with mock surprise. "Who's that?"

"She's trouble," Sunset says. "That's Fluttershy's beret!"

That _is_ Fluttershy's? "So I was _right_..."

"Cloudflare, come with me." She hands Starlight her bag. "Starlight, wait here."

The two of us walk up to Juniper.

"Sunset Shimmer!" she says without turning around. "I was _wondering_ if you'd show up. Who's your boyfriend?"

"I'm not her boyfriend." Anymore...

"We're, uh, looking for our friends," Sunset says. "I don't suppose you've _seen_ them?" She holds her geode between two fingers.

Juniper turns around, then laughs.

"Where _are_ they?"

"I'll never tell," Juniper says while tapping Fluttershy's beret. So she _does_ know.

"You don't have to." Sunset grabs Juniper's arm and begins to see her memories.

"So _you're_ the girl who tried to sabotage the Daring Do movie," I say. "I don't know why Olivia is so afraid of you. From what she told me, you're nothing but a jealous, spoiled brat."

She growls at me.

Sunset gasps, then Juniper yanks her arm away.

"What?"

"I _know_ you want people to like you," Sunset says, "but trust me! The magic in that mirror is only gonna make things worse for you!"

Great! "A magic mirror..." I rest my head on the counter. "Made it 36 days without anything magic cropping up..." Despite what I told Olivia, I don't know if I'll _ever_ get used to this.

"You're just saying that because _you_ want the mirror for yourself!" Juniper says.

"What we _want_ is our friends back! Please, Juniper! You wished them into that mirror. Maybe there's a way you can wish them out!"

"Or maybe..."

Not good! I lift my head up.

"I wish you'd –"

" _STOP!_ " I hold my right hand up in front of me.

Juniper angrily looks at me.

I sigh. "I didn't want to do this, but you leave me no choice." I really hope this works... Without lowering my right hand, I grab my geode with my left hand, activating my siren power. I take a deep breath.

 _Ahhhhhh, Oh ahhhhh, Ahhhhhh ahhhhhh ahhhhhh..._

Wish our friends back. Give me the mirror. Never seek revenge on us again.

She stares at me in confusion after I'm done vocalizing. She never showed that vacant expression Olivia had when I did this on her.

"Are you finished?" she asks.

This is exactly what I feared would happen. I use it on an unsuspecting person, and it doesn't work. And, of course, it's at the worst possible time. "Uh..." Maybe I should've sung that Against Us song instead...

"I wish you'd join them!" Crap!

A beam of... something... shoots out of the mirror and surrounds us. It lifts us up and pulls us into the mirror.

"Why?!"

* * *

" _AAAAAAAA–_ oof!" I crash into the ground.

"Sunset Shimmer! Cloudflare!"

That was... disorienting... I open my eyes. Fluttershy and Rainbow have their hands held in front of me. I grab ahold of them and they help me up.

I look around us. Everything's white, aside from the portal thing above us.

"Cloudflare!" Olivia runs up to me and pulls me into a hug. "Oh, I thought I'd never see you again!"

Clingy! "It's... great to see you, too. All of you."

"Hooray!" Pinkie yells. "We're all together again!"

"But wait," Twilight says. "If we're all together, then nobody out there knows where we are!"

Olivia lets go. "Hooray! We're all gonna die together!" she yells in mock excitement.

"That's not something to cheer about," Pinkie says.

Olivia looks at me. "Is she for real?"

"Her sarcasm detector's broken," I say quietly. "That, or she never had one in the first place."

"Starlight Glimmer knows where we are," Sunset says.

"Starlight Glimmer?" Olivia says, surprised. "You ran into Starlight Glimmer?"

I sigh. Wonder what _other_ human counterparts go to Crystal Prep... "Twilight's student, not the girl at Crystal Prep."

"She doesn't go to Crystal Prep," Olivia says. "At least, I don't _think_ she does. She was in a few of my classes during 5th and 6th grades. She moved away after that, and I haven't seen her since."

"How would _she_ know where –" Pinkie stops. " _Oooohhh!_ " Yeah, she figured it out.

"You didn't..." Sci-Twi says. "She isn't..."

"I kinda told her she could come back here with me," Sunset says.

"You really think Princess Twilight would be okay with that?" AJ asks.

"I don't know for sure that she _wouldn't_ be okay with it."

"Um," Fluttershy says, "so sorry to interrupt..."

"Whoa!" Rainbow says. "Check out our geodes!"

Geodes? I look at mine. It's glowing, as are everybody else's.

The white space around us starts flashing different colors.

"This is different," Sci-Twi says. "This wasn't happening before."

"Maybe it's because all eight of us are together now," Sunset says.

"Is this a good thing," AJ says, "or a bad thing?"

Suddenly, AJ's geode shoots out an orange beam toward the portal, then all of ours do the same in their respective colors. A rainbow ring surrounds the portal, and what look like lightning bolts form inside it.

"I'm going with bad," Olivia says. "Very, _very_ bad!"

I sigh. "My power didn't work on Juniper, but the geode will do _this_ on its own..."

"You used it on Juniper?" Olivia asks.

"I tried to get her to free all of you, hand over the mirror, and leave us alone. It didn't work at all, just like I feared."

"She had Equestrian magic in her," Sunset says.

Of course... "And siren powers don't work on people with Equestrian magic in our world..." How convenient.

"I'm just glad you're okay," Olivia says, hugging me again. She's being extra clingy. It's creeping me out a little.

So why do I like it?

* * *

Sitting in an empty limbo while a unicorn-turned-human from Equestria tries to rescue you and your friends from a mirror held by yet another magic-corrupted girl gives you a lot of time to think.

Your choices are you.

That's the tagline for Night Shift. The decisions you make, no matter how small they seem, can have a major impact on your future. I didn't get wrapped up in the theft of a rare and valuable artifact, but I _did_ involve myself with all these magic shenanigans. Everything I've done over the school year led to being trapped in here. Getting busted by the old Sunset Shimmer, joining the Dazzlings, becoming these girls' friend, going on that Camp Everfree trip... and wanting to see the Daring Do movie. Olivia practically _begged_ me to come see it with them, and look where it landed me.

I don't blame her, though. I don't blame _any_ of them for what I've gone through. If I could redo the entire school year, I'd make the same choices again. This has been the best year of my life, and if this is how it ends, I'm glad I got to spend it with true friends.

 _Wish we could turn back time_

Olivia has started singing. Guess we all need _some_ way to keep from losing our minds at a time like this.

 _To the good old days_

That song's pretty appropriate right now. Sometimes, I _do_ wish things were the way they used to be. I'd hardly call the 7 months we spent together "the good old days", at least for Olivia – yes, I was her only friend, but she was still miserable – but at least stuff like this didn't happen. Maybe she's thinking back to before Sunset ruined her life... or even before she lost her leg.

 _But now I'm stressed out_

She sighs. "Oh, I'm _so_ stressed out..." She sounds very bitter. I haven't heard her this down since the day before she left for Crystal Prep.

Suddenly, several cracks appear on the ground and "walls".

"The mirror is breaking!" Sunset says.

Crap! As if things couldn't get any worse...

The ground cracks in front of me. I quickly stand up and move back. Olivia runs over to me and clings to my arm in fear.

"If Starlight doesn't find a way to get us out of here soon," Twilight says, "I don't know _what's_ gonna happen!"

"Starlight Glimmer..." Sunset says. "I hope you know what you're doing..."

Olivia starts crying. Please hurry, Starlight...

The cracks get even bigger, until there are only a few small islands of stable ground. Olivia clings even tighter.

"Cloudflare!" she says through her tears. "There's something I need to tell you!"

"Olivia, –"

"Please, just let me get this off my chest!" She looks at me. "Do you remember when we reunited? How we didn't get back together?"

"Uh... Yeah?"

"I thought being apart for so long meant we'd never feel that way again, and I was fine with that. But then, you started dating Sunset Shimmer, and I started feeling a little jealous. Before the Camp Everfree trip, I realized I might still have feelings for you. When you accidentally got me worked up with your power, I realized... well..." She pulls me into a hug. "I still like you, Cloudflare! You're the first thing I think about when I wake up and the last when I go to sleep! I wanted to wait a little longer so you could get over the breakup, but if I don't tell you now, I'll probably never get another chance!" She grabs my hands and stares into my eyes. "Cloudflare... I want to be your girlfriend again!"

Um... _Wow!_ "Olivia, I..." She... "Are you serious?"

"I've never been more serious in my entire life!"

Just... Wow... That's... a lot to take in.

...

I...

"Olivia..."

I hear a scream. The platform Twilight was standing on broke away, but Rarity saves her with her magic. The platform we're on trembles and starts breaking away further.

It's now or never.

"I remember that day," I say. "You were _so_ happy to see me again. I actually _did_ think about getting back together, but I had a crush on Sunset Shimmer. I thought Sunset and I would stay a couple, but after we kissed at Camp Everfree, I started to question whether or not I actually liked her. Our first kiss was way too early, and it completely ruined our relationship. We grew more and more distant until I finally had to break up with her. It wasn't her, it was me. After that, I _wanted_ to ask you out again. I was just too afraid to say anything, and I wasn't ready for rejection. But now..." I can feel tears starting to form. I take a deep breath. "Olivia Frost... I... I still like you, too."

She smiles. "R-really?"

I return the smile. "In the unlikely event we get out of here, I'd be _honored_ to be your boyfriend again."

Her eyes light up, then she plants her lips on mine for a couple seconds.

"Sorry. I couldn't help – mmm?"

I initiate the brief kiss this time and wrap my arms around her.

"That wasn't too early."

She smiles. We look around us. There's barely enough room to stand. There's no chance of rescue anymore.

"Goodbye, Flare," she says with a smile.

No regrets. I return the smile. "Goodbye, Liv."

With tears in our eyes, we close the gap and share one final kiss. The platform gives out from under us, and we tighten our embrace as the others scream.

We lightly hit the ground. We separate and open our eyes. We're in the mall.

"She did it!" I yell. "We're saved!"

"Oh, thank goodness!" Olivia says.

...

We're still alive...

I clear my throat. "W-well, then..."

"Uh... R-right..."

"Did... Did you mean everything you said?" I ask.

"Absolutely! Well, I _might_ have exaggerated you being the first and last things I think about each day a little, but aside from that, I meant everything. In fact, I think I like you more now than I ever did last year."

I chuckle. "We really _were_ made for each other..."

I stand up, then help her to her feet.

She looks at Juniper. "What do we do with _her?!_ " she says angrily.

"I'm _so_ sorry," Juniper says.

"It's okay," Sunset says. "We've all been there."

"Really?"

"Manipulated an entire town into giving up their talents so they wouldn't think they were special," Starlight says.

"Overpowered by magic I couldn't control and created a rift between two worlds, almost destroying both of them in the process," Twilight says.

"Turned an entire school into my own personal zombie army in hopes of conquering a distant pony world," Sunset says.

"I _hope_ they're not saying..." Olivia quietly says to me, still angry.

I look at her. She has the same expression as when...

"Wow," Pinkie says. "We are a _reeeeally_ forgiving group."

Olivia angrily sighs.

Not again. I grab her wrist. "Olivia, stop! It's not worth snapping at her!"

"But –"

"Come here." I lead her away from the others. "Look, I know you're mad..."

"Mad?" She scoffs. "Mad doesn't even _begin_ to describe how much I _hate_ that **** right now!"

"I know, but you need to calm down."

"I'm expected to _forgive_ her after she tried to _**kill us?!**_ "

Wow, she's even more furious than when she yelled at Cinch. "I'm not saying you need to forgive her, but at least give her a second chance! Just look at the turnaround Sunset has made."

" _Sunset_ didn't _trap us in a ****_ _ **mirror**_ and _**LEAVE US FOR DEAD!**_ "

I've _never_ seen her _this_ angry before! I need to think of some way to bring down her temper, and fast!

...

That's it!

"Are we dating now?"

"Huh? Of... Of _course_ we are! But what does that have to –"

"Why are we dating?"

"Why? Be... Because we... we confessed to each other...!"

"When did we confess?"

"When we were... trapped in... the mirror...?"

It's working. "Do you regret it?"

"N-no way. Not at all." I can see tears forming again. "My only regret is that I waited this long."

I run my fingers through her hair. "Everybody deserves a second chance. Juniper gave _us_ a second chance. Why don't we give _her_ one?"

She wipes the tears from her eyes. "You always _did_ look at the positive sides of even the _worst_ situations..." I still sense some tension, but she's not blinded by rage anymore. "I don't have to like her, right?"

"We won't force you to like her. At least _see_ if she can change her ways."

I give her a moment to think it over.

"Okay." She sighs. "You're right. If Sunset can change, I guess Juniper can as well." She smiles, then hugs me. "Thanks for talking me down. I almost went mental on her."

"No problem."

We separate. She looks at Juniper, then starts slowly walking to her. "I'll be fine," she says to me.

Olivia stops in front of her. After a few seconds of silence, she takes a deep breath.

 _*slap*_

"Olivia!" She... She slapped her!

" _That's_ for putting my life in danger." Olivia holds out her hand. "And _this_ is for the only chance I'm giving you."

Juniper slowly accepts the handshake.

Olivia yanks her arm forward, getting in her face. "You're on thin ice, Montage," she says in a low, threatening voice. "If you try _anything_ , you're gonna wish _you_ could disappear into a mirror! ¿Comprende?"

Juniper gulps, then nervously nods.

"She is _terrifying_ when she's angry," Rainbow says to me. "Remind me to not upset her anymore."

"At least she's quick to calm down," I say.

"Can I see that mirror?" Olivia asks, back to her calm self. Juniper hands it to her. Only one shard is still intact. "Where did you find this, anyway?"

"At... At the sunglasses booth behind you."

The one I'm standing next to? "This one?" I ask.

"Uh-huh."

That's... kinda strange. Why here, of all places? Also, why did Mirror Land completely break apart when the mirror itself still has that small fragment in the frame?

Oh well. Questions for another time.

"Even though I'm mad you trapped us in there," Olivia says, "I can't say I blame you. Before I returned to CHS, if I found something that could make anybody disappear, I probably would've done the same to the people who ruined _my_ life."

That's a lot of people. "You realize that's, like, half the school, right?" I say.

"Well, maybe not _all_ of them. Just Sunset, I guess. And Gilda. And anybody who calls me a freak from then on." She shrugs her shoulders. "Okay, _all_ of them."

I wonder what _would've_ happened if she got her hands on the mirror. Would I have tried to stop her, or would revenge have clouded my judgment like it did with the sirens?

She returns the mirror to Juniper, then walks over to Starlight. "Thanks for saving us."

"It was nothing. Just doing what I needed to do to rescue my new friends. Starlight Glimmer."

"Olivia Frost."

Juniper walks to me. "Say, um... Uh..."

"Cloudflare."

"Right. Cloudflare. Why did you start singing before I put you in the mirror?"

"Well, you know how Sunset was able to see your memories? All of us except Olivia and Starlight have powers brought on by the same magic that was contained in your mirror. Mine lets me manipulate people into doing what I want them to by singing. I tried to get you to wish the others out of the mirror, give the mirror to me, and never bother us again."

"I see... So why didn't it work?"

"Other people with magic are protected by it. My power has no effect on them."

"But why did _Sunset's_ work?"

"Because evil magic only works on those without magic, I guess."

"Your magic is evil?"

"It's a long story."

* * *

I'm waiting in Olivia's living room, sitting on the couch. She wanted to stop at her house first to show me something. She said it's something nobody outside of her family and doctors knows about.

I think I know what it is. I've known about her prosthesis since we met, but I haven't seen the limb itself. I asked once, and she showed me the top part of the limb. She didn't feel comfortable showing me everything, but now that we're dating again, maybe she finally will.

"Okay," Olivia says from the top of the stairs. "Close your eyes."

"Why?"

"Just do it! And no peeking!"

"Okay, fine!" I close my eyes and cover them with the palms of my hands.

I hear her walk down the stairs.

A few seconds later, she takes a deep breath. "Alright. You can look now."

I uncover my eyes. Olivia is standing in front of me... wearing glasses? They look identical to Twilight's. The only difference is the frames are round instead of square. "Huh... You wear glasses?" Or it'll be something completely unexpected.

"Y-yeah..." She sounds really nervous. "But only in the morning and at night."

"And during the day, you wear contacts?"

She nods. "I know. I look ugly with these on."

What? "Ugly? Who said they were ugly?"

"Just look at them! They're hideous!"

I stand up. "They're _not_ hideous! I think they look great on you."

"You... think they look _great?_ "

"Absolutely!" I walk over to her and grab her hands. "I'm not just saying that. They really suit you." I give her a kiss.

She blushes. "I... I don't know what to say... I was expecting you to say I look better with them off."

She can _still_ be so negative... "Well, that's normal. A lot of people don't like how they look in glasses at first. My 7-year-old cousin got glasses last year, and she said she looked a freak while wearing them. She didn't, and I convinced her to at least show her friends. They thought she looked, in their words, 'super cute', and she's not afraid to wear them in public anymore."

"Huh... Maybe I _should've_ shown my friends. I was too afraid, though."

"It's not too late."

She looks confused for a moment, then her eyes go wide. "You want me to..."

I nod. "I guarantee they'll like it."

"But what if they don't?"

"Then at least you gave it a chance. If you're _really_ worried, you can bring your contacts with."

I let her think it over for a moment.

She sighs. "Okay. Only because you insist."

"That's my girl!" I kiss her.

* * *

We arrive at the statue base, where the girls are waiting.

"Hey girls," I say.

They look at us. " _There's_ the happy couple!" Rainbow says. "Whoa! Nice specs, Olivia!"

"I didn't know you wore glasses, too," Twilight says.

Olivia tightens her grip on my hand. "Uh... Y-yeah... I normally wear contacts."

"This is what she wanted to show me," I say. "She never wears them because she doesn't like how she looks in them."

"Well, _I_ think you look _fabulous_ , darling!" Rarity says.

Everyone else agrees.

"Told you they'd like it," I say to Olivia. "So what do you say? Think you'll start wearing them more often?"

"Uh... Well..." She smiles and loosens her grip. "I guess I could wear them after school and on weekends."

"One step at a time, right?"

She kisses me.

I look at Juniper. Olivia does the same and she tightens her grip again.

"Don't worry. If anything happens, I'll be right over there with Sunset and Starlight."

She takes a deep breath, then lets go and walks over to Pinkie, Rarity, and Juniper. I join Sunset and Starlight.

"You think those two will become friends?" Sunset asks.

"I hope so," I say. "All they need is a little time together... and maybe a magic problem that Juniper helps solve."

"So, you said our first kiss was too soon, right? Why are you kissing Olivia even sooner?"

"Olivia and I have known each other longer than you and I had. Olivia and I dated before, and since we already know so much about each other and love each other's company, we can pick up right where we left off."

"I see. Well, I'm really happy for the two of you. I still feel bad about forcing you to break up in the first place."

I smile. "Coming from you, that means a lot. Thank you, Sunshim."

Starlight sighs. "I'm so sad to leave. I haven't really had the chance to get to know all of you."

Sunset opens her bag and takes out her journal. She reads it to herself for a moment. "Maybe you don't _have_ to leave yet."

 _Dear Sunset,_

 _Some lessons are better learned in action, and all of you are great teachers. Starlight should stay for a few more days. Enjoy the premiere!_

Awesome! Everyone cheers.

"Huh! Think you can focus on the positives?" Starlight asks.

"Whatever happens is gonna happen. I've just gotta live in the moment, right?"

"Right!"

Starlight's advice applies to me as well. I'm starting to fully embrace the magical stuff that _does_ happen and not worry about when the _next_ one will happen. I'm also not nervous about using my power anymore, but I'll only use it as a last resort. Using it to get my way a couple times might not be a problem, but it could easily corrupt me, leading to me getting _exactly_ what I want all the time until I find a magic-infused object which acts as the sirens' pendants. From there, all bets are off.

I've already been on the side of evil once. I'm _not_ going back. Besides, I don't think Olivia would like me if I did that.

* * *

 **A/N: This isn't exactly how I planned to get Cloudflare and Olivia back together, but I think it worked better this way, even though it was more dramatic than I would've liked.  
**

 **Sh** ** **ortly after Legends of Everfree premiered, s** omeone told me about a fan comic involving students at Camp Everfree playing Pokémon Go. I decided not to do something like that for "Camp Magic-Free?" because I wasn't able to play the game for myself. Now that I have, I figured I'd use the idea here.**


End file.
